West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has praised striker Xande Silva and said the frontman is dong well as he targets a place in the first team squad for the remainder of the season.

The 21-year-old striker returned from ten weeks out injured during Monday night's 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers for the Hammers U23s, with Silva finding the net twice to take his tally to the season to eight goals in seven appearances.

The summer signing from Vitoria de Guimaraes shot to the fore after scoring a hat trick on his U23 debut against Spurs in PL2 and Hammers fans are getting excited by the potential of the Portugal U20 international.

With the first team strikers outside of Marko Arnautovic not really firing on all cylinders this season, the chance is there for Silva to follow in the steps of Grady Diangana this season and break into the first team setup, even more so now that the U23s train at Rush Green alongside the senior stars.